Whimsical Illustrator Me

When I was a young artist just starting my career my work was very often called "whimsical." I wasn't sure I really liked the term because it seemed so limiting. However, even though I do much more than whimsical art, I came to embrace the label over the years. So much so that I purchased the domain www.whimsicalillustrator.com. Be sure to visit the website. It features a few samples of some of my favorite pieces of whimsical artwork from the hundreds I've created for books, magazines, and more over the years. If you are an art director, editor or other art buyer there's contact info on the site as well.

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In June 2016 I was the official artist-in-residence for Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (the first one ever, they told me!) The re...

Some Food for Thought

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” -- Georgia O’Keeffe

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life."--Rachel Carson

"Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive."-- Victor Hugo

"In the world of art, as in the whole of creation, freedom and progress are the main objectives"-- Ludwig Van Beethoven

"Did not the artists of the great age of Japanese art change names many times during their careers? I like that; they wanted to safeguard their freedom."--Henri Matisse

"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him."-- John F. Kennedy

“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.”--Henry David Thoreau

“Art is never finished, only abandoned”--Leonardo Da Vinci

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”-- Pablo Picasso

"If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.”--Émile Zola

"The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless."--Jean-Jacques Rousseau

“I wish they would only take me as I am.”--Vincent Van Gogh

"Love art. Of all lies, it is the least untrue."--Gustave Flaubert

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”--Michelangelo“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”--Aristotle “There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it.”--Henry Moore

“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.”--Twyla Tharp

“The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting.”-- Vincent Van Gogh “Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.”--Salvador Dali

“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way--things I had no words for.” --Georgia O'Keeffe

“Life obliges me to do something, so I paint.”--Rene Magritte

“Art Is a Demanding Mistress”--Carrie Mae Weems

“To create one’s own world in the arts takes courage.”--Georgia O’Keeffe “All that is gold does not glitter,Not all those who wander are lost..."-- J.R.R. Tolkien“Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... now you tell me what you know.” -- Groucho Marx

"What this world desperately needs to make it a more humane and beautiful place is well-funded artists and starving politicians." -- Mark A. Hicks

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About this blog...

My art — whimsical, random, funny, silly, and maybe a serious piece now and then — is what this space is about. One post might feature a cartoon, the next a published illustration that I’m selling to raise funds for my charity project*, and the next an abstract painting. All with an emphasis on originality.

Why is it called the Carefree Artist? A life in the arts, including mine, is usually anything but carefree. It's not reality, only a wish. (Oh how so wonderful it would be to be a carefree artist living the simple life in a quiet and inspiring location and creating a ton of art just for art's sake!)

The blog name also comes from the Carefree Highway...

More about the blog name at the bottom of this page.

About Me

I'm a full-time freelance artist and illustrator (romantic and dreamer too) who has been creating fun artwork for countless publications for the past 30+ years. When not working on art assignments, I'm a volunteer artist for the National Park Service and other places. I also love to hike, kayak, invent things, collect old books, and work on my art charity project, ArtMends.org. See my website, MARKiX.net, for more info and samples.

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More about the blog name:

The blog name also comes from the Carefree Highway here in Arizona. (Yes, the one Gordon Lightfoot sang about.) A road that played a very important role in my life as a child and as a young adult. First, when it was just a rough dirt track to basically nowhere. Then later, when it was still a small two-lane road in the middle of the desert. All many years before they widened it and put up all the ugly houses, apartments, and strip malls and ruined the natural scenic beauty of the area.